Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Fairfield
Men's basketball recap: Rams drop NIT opener to Fairfield, 62-60
3/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2011
Final Stats |
Photo Gallery 1 
|
Photo Gallery 2
By Zach Balside
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The CSU Rams fought to try to win their first postseason contest since 1999, but ultimately fell to the Fairfield Stags and their press defense, 62-60, Tuesday night at Moby Arena in the first round of the NIT.
CSU finished the season 19-13, and became the 10th team in school history to reach the 19-win plateau. The Rams' appearance in the NIT marked two consecutive appearances in post-season play, the first time that CSU has achieved that since the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.
The Rams outrebounded the Stags (25-7) 52 to 30 in the contest, led by sophomore forward Greg Smith's career-high 15. The total was CSU's most since 2007 when it had 53 against Western State on Dec. 29, 2007. But CSU's 20 turnovers proved costly in the defeat, as well as its poor shooting in the second half (22.9 percent).
Battling against the regular-season champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, CSU took a 31-29 lead into halftime by ending the period on a 13-5 run, capped by two Travis Franklin free throws.
But Fairfield's Yorel Hawkins took the game into his hands in the second half, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the period on 6-of-9 shooting, including 10 points in the final 5:21. Still, CSU was right in it down until the end.
Dorian Green got fouled on a three-point attempt with 8 seconds remaining and sank all three free throws to bring the score to 61-60. Dwight Smith immediately fouled Fairfield guard Derek Needham on the inbound pass and he made one of his two free throw attempts. Trailing 62-60 with 5 seconds left, Wes Eikmeier drove down the court and pulled up for a contested two-pointer to tie the game, but missed off the front rim.
CSU was led in scoring by senior forward Andy Ogide, who had 13 points. Fellow seniors Franklin and Andre McFarland added seven points apiece.
CSU Head Coach Tim Miles was proud of his team, but hopes for even better results in the future.
"I'm very proud of our program," Miles said. "I am very proud of our kids. We have made steps forward. I don't think anybody thinks that ending the way we ended was good enough. There's not one person associated with our program that thinks the way it went down that that's good enough."
